The present invention relates to a method for heating a webbing reinforced by carbon fibers. The present method is especially suitable in connection with the impregnation of fiber compound material webbings by injecting a respective resin into the webbings, particularly where large scale structural components are being manufactured from such webbings, for example, for making boat hulls and the like. The invention is also especially suitable for use in connection with the impregnation and curing of fiber compound material components having complicated shapes regardless of their size.
Particularly in connection with the impregnation of structural components having large surfaces, for example, rotor blades of helicopters and the like, or in connection with structural components having complicated shapes, the problem has been encountered heretofore that it is difficult to properly control the resin flow during the resin injection. This flow control problem is due to the fact that the temperature of the resin at any particular location determines the viscosity of the resin and thus also its flowability. Heretofore efforts have been made to solve this problem by means of expensive and very complicated heated molds for the formation of such fiber reinforced structural components.
Furthermore, placing large scale components into a temperature controlled environment such as a heated closet or autoclave has also its limitations because the space requirements of large scale components frequently exceed the volume of available autoclaves. Therefore, systems requiring relatively high curing or hardening temperatures could not be cured in such heat controlled environments due to their size and/or due to the complicated shape of such structural components. Additionally, the construction of heated molds or heat controlled environments is rather expensive, particularly where the components to be made are prototype components or where it is necessary to make but one structure.